Barnstable’s Tumultuous Early History, Part II (first half of the 1700s)

1700: Captains Gorham and Otis divided Barnstable for the two military companies.
1708: Nineteen members of the Barnstable church were dismissed “to the work of gathering into a church estate in Falmouth.” All were then living in Falmouth, but until this year traveled the long distance to Barnstable for their Sabbath worship.
1712: Elizabeth Blatchford born, daughter of Benjamin Lewis and Hannah Hinckley. She wed William Blatchford, who died in 1755, leaving a small estate and seven small children. In later life she was reputed a witch, and mildly persecuted and “seems to have been an honest, pious and industrious person, and a lifelong member of the Barnstable church.” A Mr. Wood of West Barnstable charged ‘Liza (she was known as Liza Tower Hill) with putting a bridle and saddle on him and riding him many times to Plum Pudding Pond in Plymouth where the witches reputedly held nightly orgies. (Note: Liza died in 1790)
1716: Fourteen men secured a site for a second meetinghouse on Cobb’s Hill by subscribing shares. There had been long controversy over a division, many objecting to the long distances they had to travel. The division was authorized by the General Court the following year.
1717: Mahitable Davis was born. She lived to the age of 87 years, surviving four husbands and bearing five children, one of whom, Daniel Davis Jr., became solicitor general of the Commonwealth.
1725: James Otis, “the Patriot,” born. He died in 1783.
1750: Cemetery laid out in the neighborhood which later became Osterville.
1756: Barnstable’s quota of French Neutrals, seven in number, arrive. They were expelled from Acadia, an exile commemorated in Longfellow’s “Evangeline.”

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Blog Author

Robin Smith-Johnson

Robin Smith-Johnson is the newsroom librarian at the Cape Cod Times. Cape Rewind looks at Cape Cod history. Read Full